31. SESJA KOMITETU ŚWIATOWEGO DZIEDZICTWA UNESCO

Already 851 sites representing exceptional universal merits have found themselves on the UNESCO World Heritage List, created upon the basis of the 1972 UNESCO convention on the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. The decision-making body within the convention is the Committee. The 31st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was held on 23 June-2 July 2007 in Christchurch (New Zealand). More than 800 representatives of 184 convention member states, state institutions and NGOs attended the meeting. The Committee decided to add to the UNESCO World Heritage List 22 new sites. It also made an unprecedented decision to strike from the list the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, due to a reduction of the terrain and the falling number of the antelopes. The most important decision concerning world heritage sites in Poland pertained to the changed name of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. According to the proposal made by the Committee the new name is now composed of two parts, the main component being: “Auschwitz Birkenau”, followed by a description: ”German Nazi concentration and death camp (1940-1945)”. The Committee also accepted a pronouncement of the site’s significance – a document describing the site and justifying its inclusion on the List within the context of selected criteria. All the sites are obligated to prepare a pronouncement defining their exceptional and universal merits. The purpose of this duty and the explanation of the limits of the entry are to introduce order into the UNESCO World Heritage List and to draw attention to the state of the preservation of particular sites. Those activities were inaugurated within the framework of the Regular Report in 2003-2006. The 32nd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will take place in Quebec (Canada) on 2-10 July 2008.